1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for configuring multiple antennas and related wireless communication device, and more particularly, to a method of selecting antennas from a plurality of antennas according to a radio-frequency (RF) environment and related wireless communication device using the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic products with wireless communication functionalities, e.g. notebook computers, personal digital assistants, etc., utilize antennas to emit and receive radio waves, to transmit or exchange radio signals, so as to access a wireless communication network. Therefore, to facilitate a user's access to the wireless communication network, an ideal antenna should maximize its bandwidth within a permitted range, while minimizing physical dimensions to accommodate the trend for smaller-sized electronic products. Additionally, with the advance of wireless communication technology, electronic products may be configured with an increasing number of antennas. For example, a long term evolution (LTE) wireless communication system and a wireless local area network standard IEEE 802.11n both support multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communication technology, i.e. an electronic product is capable of concurrently receiving/transmitting wireless signals via multiple (or multiple sets of) antennas, to vastly increase system throughput and transmission distance without increasing system bandwidth or total transmission power expenditure, thereby effectively enhancing spectral efficiency and transmission rate for the wireless communication system, as well as improving communication quality. Moreover, MIMO communication systems can employ techniques such as spatial multiplexing, beam forming, spatial diversity, pre-coding, etc. to further reduce signal interference and increase channel capacity.
Furthermore, when a wireless communication device is configured with multiple antennas for MIMO, some of the antennas can be shut down for considerations of power consumption, antenna efficiency, etc. In such a situation, how to select or switch operating antennas is a factor affecting transmission efficiency.